


Kiss When The Bass Drops

by birbteef



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Alcohol, Aliens, Bad Flirting, Club AU, M/M, Slow Burn, bartender carlos, dj cecil, kidnapping technically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-20
Updated: 2014-09-29
Packaged: 2018-02-05 12:51:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1819135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birbteef/pseuds/birbteef
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>ClubAU: Carlos, a bartender, gets a new job at a club called Night Vale in the outskirts of Las Vegas after his last one went south. There's strange people about the place and even stranger things happening, but he just wants to mix drinks and get paid.<br/>edit: will not be updated any more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What's your name partner?

-*-This work is unbeta'd if you see anything glaringly wrong please tell me so I can fix it-*-

It wasn’t like the club itself was distasteful. In fact Carlos assumed that if he were roughly twenty years younger he would have loved this place. However, being at the age he was (in his opinion certainly too old to be clubbing) a prime 45, this place was a little obnoxious.

There were bright lights, strange smells, terrible music, people who he was old enough to be their dad rubbing all over each other and buying drinks from him, which is why he was there in the first place. He was the bartender. 

He didn’t initially want to go into bartending, he had been going for a chemistry degree as an undergrad, but found the math required to get his degree was just simply too hard for him. After a long talk with his advisor and a trip down to the special education center for a couple of tests, he learned that he had a learning disability. At the lower level math options, help could be administered through the university, however to get his chemistry degree there was nothing Carlos could do. 

His advisor suggested he think long and hard about what it was in chemistry he liked so much, and try to use that in another degree option. Carlos liked a lot of the lab work, watching the chemicals actually react to each other and knowing that he is the one who made them do that.

This is how he ended up mixing drinks for a gay bar on the outskirts of Las Vegas called Night Vale. No one in the world thought Carlos’s amazing bartending skills were more awesome than drunk folks.

He hadn’t worked at Night Vale very long; the club had only been open for roughly a year and he started a few months ago. Before Night Vale he worked at a seedy place on the upper end of town that got shut down for prostitution charges. Before that he had a long stretch at a hotel where he served rich white assholes rich white asshole drinks. He quit after nearly a decade of working there because he just couldn’t stand it anymore. He’d worked other odd jobs and tended several other bars, and actually got semi famous in the Las Vegas alcohol serving community for how good he was at it. 

Night Vale was certainly different. Carlos didn’t mind the crowd; in fact working around other gay people for a change was really pleasant in a way he didn’t expect. However, the flashing lights and intense atmosphere gave him a headache after almost every night though, and the terrible music the kids these days listened to was simply just appalling in Carlos’s opinion. 

This got to the next thing he didn’t like about Night Vale: Cecil Palmer, Head DJ. Carlos regretted ever introducing himself to this man. Their work stations actually didn’t face each other, so Carlos didn’t have to look at him unless he made an effort to, but every time Cecil would get a break he’d slide up to the bar and start talking to Carlos. 

At first Carlos thought it was almost a joke. Cecil was the only other person in the club who was roughly his age when the owner wasn’t there, but god he certainly didn’t act like it. If you met Cecil at face value you would think “yes, this man is a reasonable and responsible adult.” Carlos knew better. Cecil was a dork, not offensive really, just an absolute dork. His efforts of flirting were sad and he didn’t seem to be doing anything beneficial for himself by still trying to talk to Carlos.

Carlos never called management to try and get him to stop, because Cecil technically wasn’t actually doing anything wrong. In fact he was being really nice. Carlos thought it was kind of pathetic, but cute in its own way. Everyone else at the club thought Cecil’s “crush” was just about the most adorable thing they had ever seen. 

Carlos was a grown ass man and figured he could deal with it. Besides, Cecil always ordered drinks that were actually fun to make, and always tipped Carlos well. 

Cecil had confessed to Carlos that he really didn’t care for the music they were having him spin, it was just what the kids liked to listen to. This aggravated Carlos because that was one of the points he was letting himself dislike Cecil on, that he had shitty tastes in music. When Cecil actually told him what he liked, their album collection probably matched each other’s perfectly. Carlos swore under his breath all the rest of the night. 

Night Vale was owned by an outrageously old woman who never actually seemed to make an appearance at the club. Whenever she did visit she had body guards all around her. She thought it was hilarious to call her body guards angels, and extended this term to the clubs bouncers and security. Carlos thought it was cute in a strange way. He also learned that the black bouncer that worked outside really liked being called angel in a way that Carlos did intend to be calling him. He figured he would stick with names when it came to his coworkers after that.

The best part about working at a place like Night Vale is that frankly, most of his customers were college aged young folk looking to have a good time. He didn’t know why they were in Vegas, but he had a pretty good suspicion. For only having been open a little over a year, and being a gay bar filled with gay staff, the club (which advertised itself as a gay club) still drew a LOT of straight folks in. The gay boys would come, their straight girl friends would follow, and straight boys would follow the girls. Carlos thought it was fucking hilarious when straight boys would get hit on and freak out. “im not gay bruh, im not gay.” 

It made Carlos laugh every time. 

Carlos knew he would have loved a club like Night Vale when he was old enough to actually be attending these sorts of clubs. He figured he was the only chemistry major at the University he attended that actually had reasonable social skills. The rest were frankly just damn awkward nerds. Also mainly straight pale dudes who had never kissed a woman (or a man) in their lives, and amazingly strong women who had to put up with them on a daily basis. 

It was time for the club to open. People had started filing in, ordering drinks to get drunk, and cheered when Cecil stepped up to the stage. Carlos filled the ordered as the music started out slow, passing out beers and cocktails. He looked out over the quickly growing crowd, this was the best part. Cecil amped up the music, pausing it for a brief second, dramatically saying “Welcome, To Night Vale” and let the bass drop. The crowd went wild and Carlos laughed to himself. It was the same every night and yet it never got old.


	2. dont touch what you dont touch

Carlos was wiping down his bar when Cecil sat down. It was after hours and they were finally instructed to clean up and leave. Carlos was eager to go buy some shitty three dollar meal at taco bell and then hit the hay. He briefly looked up at Cecil before furrowing his eyebrows and scrubbing at the counter again. “Mr. Palmer, what can I do for you?”

Cecil sighed, making sure not to touch the now clean counter. “We don’t have work tomorrow you know.”

It was Saturday meaning tomorrow was a Sunday. The old woman who ran the club, while still being a gay bar with lots of drugs and alcohol and dangerous music, made sure the club was closed on Sunday for religious reasons. It baffled everyone but they went with it. “Yes Cecil, I plan on going to bed tonight and not waking up till three on Monday.”

Cecil wrung his hands and let out a really forced laugh. “hah- oh, oh Carlos you see…well…”

Carlos scooted from behind the bar and began to put the stool on the counter upside down, shooing Cecil off of the one he was on. “Palmer I’m not waiting around after I’m done here I’m done get on with it.”

Cecil eagerly got out of his way “Well…Carlos I was just wondering if maybe you’d like to get dinner with me, maybe see a movie?”

Carlos stared at him over the upper rim of his glasses, not entirely sure he was actually hearing this.

“I-I’ll pay if that’s the problem.” Cecil stammered nervously, backing up from Carlos’ glare. “It’s really not a problem if you need me to.”

Carlos sighed heavily and put the last stool on the bar, choosing his words carefully. “Cecil, we’re coworkers, right?”

“Yes!”

“So you know that we shouldn’t be dating while we’re working together. Plus…I really don’t think we have that much in common.”

“We like the same music!”

Carlos shook his head “you can’t build a relationship on similar music tastes.” He picked up his bag in frustration and started to the door. “Look, Cecil I don’t want to date you, I don’t want to go out with you and I barely want to work with you, do you understand?”

Cecil stared at him sadly before nodding slowly.

“Don’t take it personal though, ok? I’m sure you’re a nice person, I haven’t dated anyone in years though.”

“So you’re single?” Cecil perked up.

“And I highly intend to stay that way didn’t you hear me?” Carlos spit back “Cecil I want to like you, like I said im sure you’re a nice guy, but no. No. I don’t want to do anything, good night.” And walked off, ignoring any other words Cecil had to say on the matter.

Carlos got to his car and let out a very frustrated groan, letting his head rest on the steering wheel. He had a headache from the club atmosphere and now this…geeze.

He didn’t want to hurt Cecil’s feelings, and he hoped that things wouldn’t become weird between them. Well…weirder than they already were. The strange man-child always already was sort of weird to him on an average basis. He didn’t know how much of it was Cecil and how much of it was the crush he harbored.

From his little time at the club he knew Cecil didn’t really do a lot outside of spinning as a DJ. He didn’t have many friends, in fact the only people he ever talked about were people who worked at the club with them like Dana or josie or any number of the angels. And his cat. Couldn’t forget about that ugly monster that Cecil was always begging to show Carlos pictures of.

Carlos decided that Cecil was probably a pretty lonely guy. He shrugged, leaning back and starting his car. He pulled out of the parking lot to see Cecil walk out the side door, not even noticing Carlos’s car. He pulled over, watching him for a moment. The stuff he was carrying looked like it was heavy, stuffed into a bag and slung over his shoulder. He didn’t seem to be walking to the parking lot but instead crossed the street, getting on the sidewalk and passing the lot entirely.

Carlos furrowed his brow in confusion, there’s no reason Cecil would walk past the parking lot unless, reasonably, there was no car in there for him. He swore under his breath and pulled back out into the street, driving the other direction. Cecil as a forty year old grown ass man didn’t have the money for a car but was still willing to pay for Carlos’ dinner and movie ticket.

Carlos swore all the way to the taco bell where he finally got his shitty dinner that he knew he was going to regret. He probably should have just paid the cook, Earl or whatever his name was, to make him something to eat but it was too late now. Why did that bar even have a cook? No one ordered things like that in a bar. He knew that the old lady would probably say it was the principle of the thing and leave it at that.

He drove home back to his apartment. It was a nice place, small but homey and definitely quieter than most of Vegas usually was. Carlos didn’t think about much as he got undressed and took a shower. He wished he could just sleep straight through Sunday till Monday rolled around and be the most rested man on earth. Carlos always was a dreamer though.


	3. It was dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> as usual this chapter is unbeta'd, if you see anything glaringly wrong please tell me and i will fix it.

The night brought dreams of a dark planet. Too close and too far, filled with fear and teeth and blood. Carlos walked along its surface, being led by Cecil who held his hand. His nails dug into Carlos’s wrist, and he was dragging the older man along behind him roughly. He never turned around, and for some reason Carlos felt as though he had no face, as though neither of them had a face.

The teeth started to sprout, growing mushrooms out of their rotten cavities and cracks. Carlos didn’t want to go any further, the ground seeped blood into his shoes and everything smelled of the sweet copper and disgusting bile. Cecil wouldn’t let him go.

Carlos woke with a nosebleed, dripping down onto his pillow and smeared all over one half of his face from where he had thrashed in the dream. He felt light, scared and full of some unforeseen dread. He looked over at the mirror, his face bloody and his eyes scared. He stared at himself for a long time, not sure whether to try and stop the slow trickle of blood or just let it happen as it was almost done bleeding anyway. He sat there and let the bleed have its way with him, dripping into his sheets in a way he didn’t care enough about. He knew he wouldn’t change them. The realization disgusted him, and he hated himself for it.

He got out of bed, taking his phone with him to the bathroom where he read his texts from last night, Cecil had sent him a good night and an unlisted number sent him an ad. He deleted both.

Carlos stared at himself in the mirror. He looked tired, and realized that his age was catching up with him. He ran his hands through the gray at his temples, wondering if he should dye over them. Cecil had called the gray streaks beautiful, that it made him look esteemed, like someone who was worth something. Carlos had laughed at the words at the time, but looking in the mirror he wished it were true.

A strange feeling came over Carlos, a deep regret of something he didn’t understand. He slunk down the wall, hitting the floor with a thud. He was getting old. It was a realization he hadn’t really had before. Sure he had known that he wasn’t exactly young any more but the awareness that he was hitting the downhill side of his life hadn’t really occurred to him till…till?

He remembered the dream, Cecil, faceless and forever moving through the blood dragging Carlos along. He had turned to him eventually, and Carlos had seen his face. Eyeless, toothy, cut and broken and he had just smiled at Carlos, smiled and told him he loved him. Everything was awful.

Carlos didn’t know why a dream like that would cause him to start crying in his bathroom on a Sunday afternoon. Once he started though he couldn’t stop. He hadn’t cried in years, it was just something he didn’t do. It felt cathartic, letting out his fear from the dream and the awareness of his age till he was crying about other things. His shitty apartment, his shitty car, his shitty job, shitty friends, shitty love interest, shitty boring past, shitty stories, and shitty family.

He cried for what seemed like hours but when he checked his phone again it had only been a little more than fifteen minutes. There was another text notification. Carlos didn’t want to open it, knowing it would be from Cecil or an ad. Those were the only two things that seemed to want his attention.

He flicked over it, seeing Cecil’s name pop up and a cheery “Good morning Carlos! :-)” Carlos wanted to hate him but he couldn’t help smiling.

Carlos didn’t know whether he wanted to text Cecil back or not. After his breakdown he knew he should just ignore Cecil’s texts as he always did. He didn’t know why Cecil kept sending them when he never got a reply. For once, Carlos thumbed over the keys sending a brief “Cecil, it’s noon.”

His phone buzzed again immediately. “I know! U just woke up tho. So morning :-P” Carlos smiled, and hated that he did.

Carlos didn’t know what to do. He already broke his rule for texting Cecil. He just…didn’t want to be alone. Not right now. He had been for years and he had told himself it was better that way, convinced himself he didn’t need anyone that that the pain he felt was normal. He shoved his head against his arms and curled into a tight ball, letting out a slow building roiling scream. He hated it. He hated everything.

He took a deep breath and gripped his phone tight, thumbing over the keys again “what about that dinner?”


	4. Pick it up

Carlos waited on the return text on the bathroom floor. He finally decided to pick himself up and wash his face once it had been three minutes without a reply. He scrubbed at the blood, letting it fall off of his cheek in flakes. He got a text and left his phone alone till he was done, reluctantly picking it up.

“I’ll pick u up tonite”

Carlos swore under his breath at the spelling error and clicked back “sounds great.”

He didn’t care how Cecil would pick him up without a car, or where they were going, or what time they were going. Carlos didn’t care about anything, and walked back into his bedroom to stare at the bloody pillow before turning it over and laying on it facedown.

The day drew on, from noon when he woke up to about two in the afternoon, he knew he should get something to eat but he continued to lie in bed, looking over the texts he sent Cecil and taking micro naps. He wouldn’t say he was sad, empty maybe, but not sad. He felt hollow, like a shell that was too old to have a night life job.

He lay in bed for hours, hating himself and Cecil in intervals till his phone buzzed again around five thirty. “B there soon :-D”

Carlos wanted to ask him how he knew where he lived but only replied with a “k”

He sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes the heel of his palm and figured he should probably throw some clothes on. He knew Cecil would look like a mess like he always did but Carlos liked to think he had standards.

He picked up a shirt from the floor and sniffed it. His standards said it didn’t stink and thus it was ok. He pulled the shirt on along with a pair of pants he found under his bed, checking himself in a mirror and running a hand through his greying hair. Cecil would think he was beautiful regardless.

Carlos sat on the edge of his bed once he was ready, waiting for Cecil to get there. He stared at his phone for a while, waiting for the text and eventually decided to lay back down. He felt drained still, and realized all too late he was going to fall asleep. He quickly turned the sound on his phone up so hopefully if he did go to sleep he would hear it.

\--

Carlos woke up several hours later. He felt like the entire earth was droning a deep beat, vibrations were thumping up the legs of his bed and ramming themselves on the inside of his chest. His heart thumped in time with the horrible beating. Carlos felt like his ribs were going to break, he would be crushed underneath the horrible thumping of whatever noise was encapsulating him.

It sped up, thrumming through his head and shaking the walls like a horrific earthquake with shit music tastes. Things started falling off of Carlos’s shelves and the light was swinging overhead. Carlos clutched the bed for everything he was worth and screamed, trying to just hold on as the horrible thumping slowly ceased.

He realized there were tears of fear falling down his cheeks as he slowly sat up. The lack of the beat made a deafening silence. It crawled inside him just like the noise had and ate him slowly. Carlos felt like he could hear his organs churning and his joints and bones creaking as he slowly sat up. The water flowing through the pipes in his walls and the electricity coming out of the light above him were deafening. He clasped his hands over his ears and fell to the floor, praying to some god that everything would just stop.

Then it was gone, and there was a knocking at his door.

Carlos laid on the floor staring at the door in fear. There was no way in hell he was going to open that. He shakily stood up, leaning on the bed for extra support. He realized that he was having a second nosebleed and swore loudly, rushing to the bathroom on shaky legs. The knocking outside the door became more frantic.

He grabbed a Fistful of toilet paper and shoved it to his nose. The door swung open and Carlos panicked, running out of the bathroom to face-

Cecil?

“You didn’t answer your phone.”


	5. captain!

“C-Cecil? What?” Carlos asked slowly, not actually sure of what was going on.

Cecil frowned and walked towards him. “You’re bleeding, that’s…I’m sorry. You didn’t answer your phone and I got worried.”

Carlos stared at him as Cecil continued to walk towards him. He didn’t move a muscle as Cecil set his hands on Carlos’s cheeks and moved his head back and forth.

Actually it felt as though Carlos couldn’t move at all.

“you were sleeping weren’t you? I knew you sleep too much, its not good for a human. Your ears are going to bleed.”

Carlos didn’t know what to say really, so a soft “why are you here?” came flowing out of him at the same time blood from his ears started trickling down his neck.

“You…you asked me out? Don’t you remember? I realize the trauma of the landing may have scattered you, but…you didn’t answer your phone and I got worried.” Cecil wrung his hands “I-I just…I wanted this to happen.”

Carlos stared at him in disbelief. He felt like he could finally move again and slowly sat down on the floor, brushing a hand to wipe the blood on his neck. “What…did you do to me?”

Cecil laughed “I didn’t do anything to you? What are you talking about, oh stand up.” He grabbed Carlos’s arm and hoisted him up with surprising strength. Carlos pushed him away.

“No! No Ce- Cecil what did you do to me? What is this?”

Cecil wrung his hands again in nervousness “Carlos I told you, there’s nothing wrong! Everything happened perfectly!”

“Landed”

“What?”

“You said you landed, Cecil!” Carlos wiped more blood off of himself “People don’t land! The mere presence of people doesn’t make other people bleed from every hole in their body!”

“You’re not bleeding from every hole!”

“Cecil!”

“Carlos I- no! I just wanted to make sure you were ok! You didn’t answer your phone!”

“What did you do!?”

“I keep telling you I didn’t do anything! You’re not hurt!”

“Cecil I am bleeding! This is your fault I know it!” Carlos backed up, pressing himself against the wall. “Get out of my house!”

“Carlos please!”

“OUT!”

“let me show you!”

“Cecil!”

“Here!” Cecil brought out a small cellphone from his pocket, waving it at Carlos.

Carlos wanted to smash it.

“I’ll show you just- please, please Carlos don’t make me leave! I just got here. I just got you.”

Carlos wiped the last bit of blood off of himself as he continued to stare at Cecil. “what…are you going to show me?”

“I didn’t want it to be like this! I just…oh damnit.” And Cecil pressed a couple of buttons on the cell phone.

Carlos felt his entire world rip apart. It was like he were standing still in the center of a merry go round that was too fast in reverse. He saw his apartment spin, and he saw Cecil start to come apart. He looked at his hands and saw their veins and bones, the connecting tissues splitting open and skin whipping off in tiny little tendrils of atomic structure.

Carlos screamed. There was no sound.

Then he hit the floor, strong arms holding him and bright lights surrounding every single inch of his torn body.

He was ok. There was no blood and he was in one piece. He gasped for air and clung to the hands that were holding him, trying to shut out that light.

A soothingly melodic and gentle voice crept inside him. “Carlos, don’t be afraid. It’s ok. I’ve got you”

If he weren’t on the floor he would have collapsed. He opened his eyes slowly, realizing immediately that he was no longer in his apartment. It was huge, bright, and pristinely clean. Everything shone from inside itself and broadcasted its light.

Carlos turned his head, looking around till he caught sight of a window, glass smoothed over a dark outside. Carlos did his best to focus and realized it was the sky. It was the night sky, so much clearer than he had ever seen it before.

The hands holding Carlos stroked his back gently, trying their best to calm him.

Carlos turned, looking at Cecil who was clearly not Cecil.

“We’re in space?”

“Welcome to Night Vale, Carlos.”


End file.
